JTI REPORT

Report Date: November 6, 2024

Hrodna.life

Section A: Identity and Transparency

Basic Requirements on Media’s Identity
1.1. Legal Entity Name
1. What is the Legal Entity Name?
Viešoji įstaiga "Žmonės ir raidės"
1.2. Contact Details and Identifiers
ADDRESS LINE 1
Švitrigailos g. 11K-109
POST CODE
LT-03228
CITY
Vilnius
COUNTRY
Lithuania
3. What is the general telephone number for the Legal Entity?
⁨+37060664976⁩
4. What is the email address for the Legal Entity?
[email protected]
5. Is the Legal Entity required to have a Tax ID, a Registration ID, a DUNS number and/or other identifiers?
Yes
5.a. What are these IDs for the Legal Entity?
306050237
6. Are there any other governmental or other identifiers that a certification body could use to verify the identity of the Legal Entity?
No
1.3. Description of Media Outlet
7. What Brand Name(s), titles, publication names, etc. do you use to publish Content?
Hrodna.life
1.4. Distribution Channels and URLs
8. Does the Media Outlet publish on any URLs?
Yes
8.a. On what URLs do you publish?
  • https://hrodna.life
  • https://ru.hrodna.life/
9. Does the Media Outlet publish any content on any social media?
Yes
9.a. What are the social media URLs, handles, addresses or names that you use to publish?
  • https://www.facebook.com/hrodna.one.love
  • https://www.instagram.com/hrodna.mylove/
  • https://vk.com/hrodna.like
  • https://vk.com/grodno.news
  • https://ok.ru/hrodna.news
  • https://t.me/hrodnaonelove
  • https://x.com/HrodnaL
  • https://www.youtube.com/@HrodnaOneLove
  • https://www.tiktok.com/@havoryc_hrodna
10. Does the Media Outlet publish any content by broadcasting and/or streaming?
No
1.5. Safety Concerns
11. Do the Media Outlet's Editorial Guidelines state that the safety of all journalists shall be treated as a primary concern?
Yes
12. Are there any reasons that the Media Outlet has for withholding information on any of the questions as part of this JTI Standard process?
Yes
12.a. What are the reasons?
Personal safety of journalists and their relatives. The reason is the constant repressions of the Belarusian regime against the independent press.

Report about repressions in 2020-2024 made by Press Club Belarus: https://press-club.pro/underpressure/hronika
1.6. Location
13. Is the physical address of the Legal Entity different from the postal address according to question no. 2?
No
14. Do you have a safety-related reason for not providing it?
No
1.7. Founding Date
15. What is the founding date of the Legal Entity?
2022-03-01
16. Is the founding date of the Media Outlet (as in clause 1.3. question no. 7) different from that of the Legal Entity (as in clause 1.1. question no. 1)?
Yes
16.a. Provide a history of previous/former Legal Entities and their founding dates.
Our media was founded under the name "Tvoj Styl" in 2007 by NGO "Centre The Third Sector" in Hrodna, Belarus. As a result of rebranding, Hrodna.life was created instead of "Tvoj Styl" in October 2016 (legal entity - Belarusian individual entrepreneur Aliaksei Shota). In July 2020 a new company Hrodna Life Media LLC was registered in Hrodna, Belarus to further develop successful media. It was closed by Belarusian authorities in 2021 within the huge wave of repressions against independent media in the country. From 2022 our team are working in exile in Lithuania and Poland with actual legal entity registered in Lithuania.
Editorial Mission
2.1. Editorial Mission Statement
17. Does your Media Outlet have an editorial mission statement, or stated set of principles or editorial values?
Yes
17.a. Provide that statement here
Hrodna.life is a media outlet for everyone who loves Hrodna, wherever they and we are. We capture reality and tell stories to protect our heritage and bring you and us closer to Hrodna. We are based on local patriotism, Belarusianness, inclusiveness and human rights.
18. Is that statement posted online?
Yes
18.a. What is the URL where it is published?
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
Public Service Media
3.1. Public Service Media Mission, Governance and Independence
19. Is the Media Outlet a Public Service Media?
No
Disclosure of Type of Ownership
4.1. Privately held
20. Is the Media Outlet or the Legal Entity privately owned?
Yes
20.a. What is the form and status of the Media Outlet or Legal Entity according to the legal definition in the country of registration?
VšĮ Žmonės ir raidės is non for profit public legal person of limited civil liability, acting in accordance with the procedure laid down by Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, Law on Public Establishments of the Republic of Lithuania (the Law on Public Establishments), other laws and regulations and the Articles of Association of the Establishment (the Articles of Association).
4.2. State or Publicly owned
21. Is the Media Outlet or the Legal Entity owned by the state, a unit of the government or any other public entity?
No
4.3. Publicly Traded Company
22. Is the Media Outlet or the Legal Entity publicly traded?
No
4.4. Other
23. Is the ownership of the Media Outlet or the Legal Entity different from the three previous clauses in this section? For example, is it a co-operative or member-owned?
No
Requirements on Owners’ Identity
5.1. Names of Owners and Board Members
24. What are the names of all direct, indirect or beneficial owners?
Iryna Novik, director
25. Are the names of the owners in the previous question available online?
Yes
25.a. What is the URL that contains the names of the owners, or, if not available online, please indicate where that information can be obtained?
https://rekvizitai.vz.lt/en/company/zmones_ir_raides/
26. What are the names of the members of supervisory boards?
N/A
27. Are the names of the members of the supervisory board members in the previous question available online?
No
28. Are the listed owners also founders or owners of other companies?
No
29. Are any of the owners active members of a political party or movement or candidates in a political election or current office holders?
No
5.2. Contact Details of Direct and Indirect Owners
30. What is the contact information for all direct and indirect owners?
Iryna Novik, director, [email protected], +37060664976
31. Is the contact information in the previous question available online?
Yes
31.a. What is the URL with the contact information from the previous question?
https://rekvizitai.vz.lt/en/company/zmones_ir_raides/
32. What is the contact information for the members of the board of directors?
N/A
33. Is the contact information in the previous question available online?
No
5.3. Names of Shareholders
34. What are the names of the direct, majority or controlling shareholders? (If shareholders are companies, list the main activity and business sector of that company along with the name.)
Iryna Novik
5.4. Percentage of Shareholdings
35. List the shareholders and the percentage of the holdings.
Iryna Novik 100%
5.5. Exception for Member-owned Media Outlets
36. Is the Media Outlet member-owned?
No
Disclosure of Identity of the Management Team and its Location
6.1. Management Directory
37. What are the names, positions, and contact details of all members of management for the Media Outlet?
Iryna Novik, director, [email protected], +370 606 64976⁩
Aliaksei Shota, editor-in-chief, [email protected], +48 576253390
6.2. Location of Branches and Offices
38. What is the physical address, phone number and email address of the headquarters of the Media Outlet?
We can't provide the address because of safety reasons.

[email protected], +370 606 64976⁩

39. Does the Media Outlet have other main branches and offices?
No
40. Do you have a safety-related reason for not providing it?
Yes
40.a. What is the reason for not disclosing it?
Personal safety of the staff, because we are labeled by Belarusian regime as "extremists' formation".

Report about constant repressions of the Belarusian regime against the independent press in 2020-2024 made by Press Club Belarus: https://press-club.pro/underpressure/hronika
Disclosure of Editorial Contact Details
7.1. Social Media
41. Does the Media Outlet have social media accounts for the public to use to make queries or respond to Content?
Yes
41.a. What are the URLs or other identification of all social media accounts used by members of the public to contact the Media Outlet?
  • https://www.facebook.com/hrodna.one.love
  • https://www.instagram.com/hrodna.mylove/
  • https://t.me/hrodnaonelove
7.2. Newsroom Contact Details
42. Does the Media Outlet have a person responsible for dealing with communication from the public regarding the Content?
Yes
43. Is the method for contacting that person or others at the Media Outlet clearly visible to the public?
Yes
44. In what ways does the staff of the Media Outlet responsible for the Content communicate back to the public results of queries, concerns, etc.?
The most safe way for our audience is communication via email [email protected]
7.3. Customer Service Contact Details
45. Does the Media Outlet have a department or a single person who is responsible for customer service?
Yes
45.a. What are the contact details, including telephone numbers, email addresses, correspondence addresses, for customer service or the equivalent within the Media Outlet?
[email protected]
Disclosure of Revenue Sources and Data Collection
8.1. Sources of Revenue
46. What are the categories of sources of revenue for the Media Outlet, ranked from largest to smallest? These may include subscriptions, advertising, major donors, donations, subsidies, fees, sales, memberships, sponsorships, events, etc.
We are non-commercial structure, so our main sources of revenue are grants from different donors, mostly European funds. We also have a small source of revenue from donations via Patreon. For better sustainability, we work also with native and banner advertisement, gaining money as individual entrepreneur.
47. Is the Media Outlet required to make financial disclosures?
No
48. What is the revenue of the Media Outlet?
Nearly 90k EUR per year
49. What is the ratio of the categories of revenue sources (as in question no. 46)?
Budget structure in 2023:
- 90% from grants
- 8% from advertisement
- 2% from private donations
50. Is there any reason for safety and security that you have given incomplete data in this section?
Yes
50.a. What is the reason?
List of donors is confidential because of safety reasons.
8.2. Data collection disclosure
51. Does your Media Outlet process any personal information from online visitors on its own or with third parties?
Yes
51.a. What information is processed?
We use Google Analytics, which collects data about visits and visitors, their geolocation and our website usage.
51.b. What is the purpose for gathering that information?
We don't use and store personal information and use only aggregated data provided by Google Analytics to understand audience and content trends.
51.c. By what methods is the information processed?
All information is stored and processed in Google Analytics.

Section B: Professionalism and Accountability

Accountability for Journalism Principles
9.1 Editorial Guidelines
52. Does your Media Outlet have a set of guidelines, or adhere to an external set of guidelines, for journalistic content, distribution and conduct to which its journalistic operations comply?
Yes
52.a. Are they made available to the public in a readily accessible form?
Yes
52.a.i. What is the URL?
https://baj.media/be/palazhenne-pra-kamisiyu/
53. Is there a person or a group of persons responsible for these guidelines clearly identified?
Yes
53.a. Is that identification visible on the page with the guidelines?
No
53.a.i. Why not?
We don't publish on our websites any names of our editorial members because of safety reasons, but communication with responsible persons can be made on any related topic via email [email protected] that can be found at https://hrodna.life/about-us/.

Report about the constant repressions of the Belarusian regime against the independent press in 2020-2024 made by Press Club Belarus: https://press-club.pro/underpressure/hronika
9.2. Purpose of Guidelines
54. Do the guidelines referred to in the section on Editorial Guidelines set clear expectations for the behaviour for all the contributors, including editorial staff (journalists, editors) and all other contributors?
Yes
55. Do the guidelines referred to in the section on Editorial Guidelines make clear the structure of editorial responsibility for each stage of the publication process within the organisation?
Yes
9.3. Guidelines and Journalism Principles
56. Do your Editorial Guidelines include requirements for Accuracy (as prescribed in the Preamble) in your output?
Yes
What is the URL?
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
57. Do they include requirements for Independence (as prescribed in the Preamble) of editorial decision making?
Yes
What is the URL?
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
58. Do they include requirements of Fairness (as prescribed in the Preamble) in the practice of journalism?
Yes
What is the URL?
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
59. Do they include requirements for Accountability (as prescribed in the Preamble) in the practice of its journalism?
Yes
What is the URL?
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
9.4. Conflicts of Interest
60. Do your Editorial Guidelines include protections against real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest?
Yes
61. Do the guidelines include guidance on how to deal with conflicts related to business?
Yes
62. Do the guidelines include guidance on how to deal with conflicts related to political interests?
Yes
63. Do the guidelines include guidance on how to deal with conflicts related to personal interests?
Yes
64. Does the Media Outlet’s structure protect the editorial processes from any undue influence from within or without?
Yes
Accuracy
10.1. Processes for Ensuring Accuracy
65. Do you have internal rules and a systematic editorial process to ensure the accuracy of your content?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
We don't use anonymous sources if we can't verify information in different sources. We always try to find the original sources and link and cite them. Furthermore, we always try to our give audience broader and deeper context to understand the news. If we use state-owned or other sources that can be interested in manipulation, we always separate facts and interpretations.
66. Do you have internal rules and a systematic editorial process to ensure that the Editorial Guidelines are adhered to?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
All pieces of content are reviewed by editor-in-chief before being published and reviewed additionally after by different person - a publishing editor. Difficult topics and controversial issues can be discussed within the whole team.
67. Do you have a verification process for content and the role of editorial oversight?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
All information used by our journalists should be linked and credited with sources.
10.2. Process Review
68. Do you have a mechanism for periodic review of the effectiveness of the implementation of your Editorial Guidelines in your editorial processes?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
We have yearly offline meetings of the whole team for strategic planning and review of the last year work.

Also, as we have a small team (less than 10 persons), all journalists know each other and communicate with each other as well as with editors-in-chief and publishing editor. All staff are familiar with the editorial rules and can review and comment each other's work in team's chat.
69. Is your accountability mechanism (internal or external) subject to periodic review?
N/A
10.3. Statistics and External Content
70. Do your Editorial Guidelines require that statistics should be sourced and verified?
Yes
71. Do your Editorial Guidelines require that external photographs/video/audio content should be sourced and verified?
Yes
10.4. Identification of Journalists, Agencies
72. Are the Individual Journalists (including external sources) identified, for example through a byline, or recorded in publishing mechanism so that this information can be accessed?
No
73. Is all News Agency material used by the Media Outlet recorded and tracked?
Yes
10.5. Location Reporting
74. Is location reporting identified in your content?
Yes
75. Do your Editorial Guidelines ensure that any constraint on location reporting be explained in the report or in the context of its publication?
Yes
76. Do your Editorial Guidelines require transparency where a location report has been facilitated by an external body?
Yes
10.6. Automatically Generated Content
77. Do you publish any content that is automatically generated?
No
10.7. Algorithmic Dissemination and Curation
78. Do you use any algorithms for the dissemination or curation of content?
No
10.8. Treatment of Explicit Content
79. Do your Editorial Guidelines ensure the ethically appropriate treatment of violent and explicit content?
Yes
80. Do your Editorial Guidelines ensure the ethically appropriate treatment of content which features children or other vulnerable people?
Yes
81. Do your Editorial Guidelines ensure the ethically appropriate handling of live content?
Yes
Responsibility for Content Provided by the General Public
11.1. User Generated Content/Eyewitness News
82. Does your Media Outlet publish any content that comes not from staff or freelancers but from external sources such as readers/viewers?
Yes
82.a. Does your Media Outlet have set structures to ensure the checking of externally sourced material undergoes the same principles as that created entirely by its own journalists?
Yes
11.2. Editorial Guidelines for UGC/Eyewitness News
82.b. Do your Editorial Guidelines also include provisions for externally-submitted material?
Yes
82.c. Are there Editorial Guidelines dealing with UGC/eyewitness news content?
Yes
82.d. Do they include details on the verification processes to be used for this content?
Yes
82.e. Do they include guidance on the appropriate labelling of such content?
Yes
82.f. Do they include guidance on dealing with the providers of such content in a responsible and ethical manner?
Yes
11.3. Opinion Guidelines
83. Do your Editorial Guidelines also include provision for ensuring comment material is free from defamation?
Yes
84. Do your Editorial Guidelines also include provision for ensuring comment material is free from invasions of privacy?
Yes
85. Do your Editorial Guidelines also include provision for ensuring comment material is free from hate speech?
Yes
86. Do your Editorial Guidelines also include provision for ensuring comment material is free from harassment?
Yes
87. Is it clear to the public whether your Media Outlet’s moderation of such comment is pre- or post-publication?
Yes
88. Does this policy allow for the removal of offending material?
Yes
Responsibility for Sources
12.1. Anonymity
89. Are there guidelines on the procedures to be followed for granting anonymity to sources?
Yes
90. Are the reasons for granting anonymity made clear to the public?
Yes
12.2. Privacy Rights
91. Are there guidelines to ensure that the privacy rights and safety of individuals are protected in your journalistic activity?
Yes
12.3. Independence and Sources
92. Are there guidelines to ensure the independence of journalism relative to the sources for content?
Yes
12.4. Diversity of Sources
93. Do the guidelines ensure that a diversity of sources is used in the production of your journalistic content?
Yes
Professionalism for Affiliations
13.1. Sponsored Content Policies
94. Do your Editorial Guidelines have specific policies for distinguishing commercial or sponsored content?
Yes
13.2. Sponsored Content Indicators
95. Do you publish any sponsored content?
Yes
95.a. Do your Editorial Guidelines require all sponsored content to be clearly labelled or otherwise made clear?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
It is clearly labelled as "Affiliate Material" ("Партнёрскі матэрыял")
95.b. Do your Editorial Guidelines require sponsored content to be labelled and made clearly distinguishable from your own content?
Yes
13.3. Separation of News and Opinion
96. Do your Editorial Guidelines require a clear distinction to be made between news content and opinion content?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
All opinion content is labelled with visible tag "Opinion" ("Меркаванне").
97. Do your Editorial Guidelines require a clear distinction to be made between news content and commercial content?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
All commercial content is labelled with visible tag "Advertisement" ("Рэклама").
98. Do you in editorial practice or in Editorial Guidelines require a clear distinction to be made between news content and content supplied by an external non-journalistic body?
Yes
Internal Accountability
14.1. Dealing with Inaccuracies
99. Do you have a clear process to allow potential errors to be communicated to the Media Outlet by the public?
Yes
99.a. Do you publish that process?
Yes
99.a.i. What is the URL where it can be seen? Or, where is it seen next to each bit of Content?
Explanations of made mistakes or inaccuracies are published within this exactly piece of content that was actually with errors. It is made visible with bold "UPD" annotation. We also communicate in our Telegram channel https://t.me/hrodnaonelove about made and corrected errors.
100. Do you have a clear process to allow potential errors to be communicated to the Media Outlet by those with direct involvement in the story?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
Claims can be sent via any of our communication channel: email, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and other - contacts are visible on website.
100.a. Do you have a clear process for assessing and dealing with the claims?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
All claims are forwarded to the editor-in-chief by the responsible staff. Editor-in-chief decided what to do after the consultation with publishing editor and author of claimed story.
101. Is there a systematic editorial structure in the Media Outlet to ensure that any inaccuracies in its content are corrected in a timely and transparent manner?
Yes
If you want to publish additional information, please provide it here.
Yes - publishing editor is responsible for timely decisions.
14.2. Publishing Corrections
102. Does your Media Outlet guarantee the publication of the correction of all significant inaccuracies and errors in a similar place and manner as the original version, such as the same URL or in similar time and format of broadcast?
Yes
14.3. Contact and Process for Complaints
103. Does your organisation have a designated contact in the event of complaints about potential breaches of its journalism principles or Editorial Guidelines?
Yes
104. Does your organisation have a designated process for the public to open a dialogue with you regarding potential breaches of its journalism principles or Editorial Guidelines? (These may follow the Uniform Correction or Clarification act adopted by most U.S. States.)
Yes
104.a. Is that information clearly available?
Yes
104.a.i. What is the URL of where this information is available? If it is not on a single page, describe where people can find it.
https://hrodna.life/about-us/
14.4. Internal Process for Complaints
105. Are your staff (Employees and Freelance) aware of the process that must be followed in the event of such complaints?
Yes
106. Are they aware that all such complaints must be brought to the attention of a senior member of staff (of organisations large enough to have a staff) not directly connected with the creation of the story?
Yes
107. Is your Media Outlet committed to the resolution of any such complaints in a fair, reasonable and timely manner?
Yes
14.5. Independence of Ombudsperson
108. Does the Media Outlet have an Ombudsperson?
N/A
External Accountability
15.1. External Oversight
109. Have you committed to a system or systems of external accountability for your editorial content?
Yes
15.2. Compliance with External Accountability
110. Is your Media Outlet committed to comply with any directions or guidance issued by the external accountability body to which you subscribe?
N/A
15.3. Absence of external oversight
111. Is your Media Outlet subject to an external regulatory mechanism for content that you find it not possible to comply with?
No
15.4. Contact Details of External Accountability Bodies
112. Are the mechanisms for the public to complain about breaches of your Editorial Guidelines to an external body publicly available?
N/A
15.5. Other Associations
113. Do you belong to any other bodies that require members to adhere to published guidelines, standards or norms to maintain status in that organisation?
Yes
URL
“The United Mass Media” Association of Regional Press Publishers of Belarus
113.b. Do you publish those groups, and their contact details?
N/A
Professionalism in the Media Outlet
16.1. Recruitment and Training
114. Do you have guidelines for the recruitment and training of editorial staff?
Yes
114.a. Do those guidelines contain a diversity policy?
Yes
114.b. Do those guidelines cover staff welfare?
Yes
114.c. Are they publicly available?
No
16.2. Working Conditions, Contract Policy and Labour Relations
115. Do the regulations and guidelines for the employment of staff and engagement of contract journalists protect their editorial independence?
Yes
116. Are your employees (including freelance) covered by legal contracts and insurance?
Yes
117. Does your staff have the freedom to organise?
Yes
118. Do you have an existing structure for social dialogue including a collective bargaining arrangement with appropriate trade unions?
N/A
119. Are there guidelines for contracts of engagement with freelance journalists?
N/A
16.3. Staff Welfare
120. Does your Media Outlet's rules and procedures protect against discrimination in the workplace?
Yes
121. Does your Media Outlet's rules and procedures support equality of opportunity?
Yes
122. Does your Media Outlet have a safety at work policy, which includes specific protection for journalists working in hostile environments?
Yes
123. Does your Media Outlet have guidelines to support editorial staff who have been exposed to material of a sensitive or upsetting nature?
N/A
124. Does your Media Outlet have guidelines to support editorial staff who suffered physical or psychological harm in the course of their work?
N/A
Training
17.1. Training in Editorial Guidelines
125. Does your Media Outlet have a training programme for editorial staff that includes sections on the Editorial Guidelines and other legal and ethical issues?
Yes
126. Is there refresher training available for significant changes in the law or guidelines?
Yes
127. Does your staff have expert advice available for consultation when dealing with legal and compliance issues?
Yes
Publication of Self-Assessment
18.1. General Public
128. Does your Media Outlet publish your answers to this self-assessment based on the JTI Standard?
Yes
128.a. Is it available to readers?
Yes
128.a.i. What is the URL?
https://hrodna.life/standarts/
18.2. Machine-readability
129. Does your Media Outlet publish your answers in a machine-readable format?
Yes
129.a. What is the URL?
https://www.jti-app.com/report/VBNY4eBQGljw1Qax